Napkin Math

Business breakdowns, by the numbers.

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Napkin Math

Should You Fire This Newsletter? 2023 Edition

2024 is the year I go big

11 Dec 21, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Want to Build? Technical Excellence Won’t Be Enough.

This new era of startups requires a founder baptized in the humanities

5 Dec 14, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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The Impossibility of Being Charlie

RIP to nerd Jesus

3 Dec 7, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Death of a Flywheel

Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway got really big. Here’s why it might kill them.

Dec 5, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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How I Use ChatGPT (As A Reasonable Person)

My AI awakening

8 Nov 30, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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The Case Against Sam Altman

The board is bad at their job, but they may not be crazy

2 Nov 21, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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COGS: How I Bankrupted MoviePass

An intuitive explainer for how to lose money and win anyway

4 Nov 16, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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We Should All Want to Be Mitt Romney

What is the point of F U money if you never say F U?

3 Nov 9, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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How to Win Arguments and Manipulate Managers

Make your spreadsheets shape strategy

7 Nov 2, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Live Fuller, Not Bigger

You must escape the shallow joy of more

10 Oct 26, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Every Software Business Has the Same Playbook

The strange contradiction at the heart of B2B SaaS

Oct 19, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Falling Out of Love With Michael Lewis

The complicated demands of business writing

17 Oct 11, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Automate the Simple Stuff With Stupid Tools

This is the dumbest AI will ever be—and it’s still magic

7 Oct 5, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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The Double Bind Theory—Or Why Sensationalism (Unfortunately) Works

If you want to win, you gotta spike

4 Sep 28, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Oh No, I Kinda Want to Work for Elon

An examination of the man-child who would be king

12 Sep 21, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Defense Tech Shouldn’t Be Sexy

Weapons are a necessary evil, not a hype-y consumer product

1 Sep 14, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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You Need to Know What You Are Betting On

How to think about investing in a startup versus a public company

1 Sep 7, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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The Internet Demands Greatness

No one cares, so take more risks

5 Aug 31, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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A TikTok Competitor Is About to IPO—And It’s Deeply Suspicious

Triller's S1 raises questions about its numbers

3 Aug 24, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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The Internet Is Still Early

Neither hellscape nor utopia—the internet makes society anew

2 Aug 17, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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The Futility of Utility

Why do I choose to do things that aren't in my best interest?

1 Aug 10, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Devote Yourself to the Cause of Your Life

Your to-do list can wait

1 Aug 3, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Snap’s Probably Screwed (Again)

Maybe Elon should buy it

Jul 27, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Of Course You Can Beat the Market

Free your mind from the Efficient Market Hypothesis

1 Jul 20, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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OpenAI’s Code Interpreter Is About to Remake Finance

Get in, loser—we’re disrupting Oracle

Jul 13, 2023 by Evan Armstrong